The invention relates, generally, to pinball games and, more particularly, to an improved flipper for such games.
Pinball and other rolling ball games typically consist of an inclined playfield supporting a rolling ball and a plurality of playfield features. The game player uses a pair of mechanical flippers mounted at one end of the playfield to direct the ball at various playfield features thereby scoring points and maintaining play.
The success of a manufacturer's line of pinball games depends on its ability to attract players to its games by providing new, interesting and challenging play features and game schemes. Therefore, pinball manufacturers must continually develop new play features.
As previously described, the typical game allows the player to control movement of the pinball through the pair of player operated mechanical flippers. In an effort to increase player appeal some games include additional player controlled flippers located at various positions on the playfield that allow the player additional control. These arrangements, however, merely duplicate the traditional flippers and do not add new player-controlled features to the game. An improved flipper is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,335 issued to Chaudhry et al. in which the game's microprocessor controls the game flipper automatically. This device, however, still utilizes the well known mechanical flipper mechanism.
Another known feature for altering the movement of a pinball on the playfield consists of an electromagnet mounted below the playfield. The electromagnet is operated by a player controlled button mounted on the game cabinet. The electromagnet was located adjacent the drains (the points on the playfield where the pinball leaves the playfield) such that the player could energize the electromagnet to "grab" the ferromagnetic pinball to prevent it from leaving the playfield. The electromagnet was energized for as long as the player depressed the button such that the electromagnet could hold the ball but was not designed to propel it over the playfield.
Thus, a new player controlled magnetic "flipper" where movement of the ball across the playfield can be controlled by the player is desired.